After Devils practice yesterday, head coach Brent Sutter warned not to go overboard regarding Saturday’s skid-stopping win over the Capitals.

“It’s always nice to win,” he said. “And yet at the same time, I think it was important this week that we keep it in some perspective.”

Sutter didn’t want to get overly excited about one victory. But perhaps it’s the Devils’ four losses before the win that should be kept in perspective.

The Devils are struggling and they are missing key players like Martin Brodeur, Bobby Holik and Brian Rolston, but they’re not a mess either. The Devils are 8-7-2, and they go into tomorrow night’s game against Florida tied for the eighth-most points in the East.

Meanwhile, their next three opponents are the Panthers (who had the fewest points in the NHL entering last night), the last-place Islanders and the sub-.500 Lightning. Not quite a killer stretch.

“It’s semi-critical [now] because our good start helped us out, but if we didn’t have that good start, we’d be in dire straits right now,” Brian Gionta said. “But we played pretty good hockey over the losses. We just made enough mistakes to lose the games. So we have to correct those.”

Sutter, though, refuses to acknowledge that the Devils have an easy slate ahead.

“There’s no easy games in this league,” Sutter said. “Not one.”

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Sutter still hasn’t decided who will start in goal tomorrow, Kevin Weekes or Scott Clemmensen. He expects both to play in the Devils’ next three games. . . . Barry Tallackson, who had heart surgery in September and lately has been dealing with aching ribs, practiced with the Devils yesterday for the first time since being recalled from Lowell.